Hand drawn or painted FDC (first day covers) have been done since the 1940s. Over the past few years I have begun combining my collection of comic character hand drawn sketches with FDCs. This blog is being maintained for the purpose of sharing my collection...

Friday, May 26, 2017

When I read that Shanon Wheeler would be at East Coast Comic Con, I searched through eBay for a coffee related first day cover. I found the above Silver Coffeepot from 2005, designed by Tania Lee, based on a coffeepot crafted by silversmiths in Philadelphia over 200 years ago. Apparently tea and coffee were a big part of the 18th century social life...

Coffee is still a big part of life today, and Shannon Wheeler knew this when he created Too Much Coffee Man in 1991. A satirical superhero, TMCM broods about the state of the world and politics first saw publication in the Daily Texan. TMCM would eventually make the pages of the Dark Horse Comic anthology series.

Wheeler published a book called Postage Stamp Funnies:

Wheeler is a cartoonist for the New Yorker magazine and a recipient of the Eisner Award 1995 and 2011.

Friday, May 19, 2017

As anyone who attends a large convention knows, you can spend a lot of time standing on line. This takes time away from the potential to meet someone. I was standing on line to obtain a signature from Joe Giella, a silver age artist. I then realized I was standing in front of Gerhard's table. He was speaking with two fans and started sketching. My first thought was, it is possible he does not have a full dance card this late in the afternoon. I leaned in to speak with with wife to ask if it was possible to still obtain a sketch and she respond yes, of course it was. Wow!

A sketch from Gerhard was a dream for me, however the US Postal Service has not issued any aardvark stamps. I chose a generic Star first day cover for the sketch.

Gerhard started his association with Dave Sim's Cereus with issue #65, in 1984. Gerhard often described his job as drawing tables and chairs behind an aardvark. Besides his work on Cereus, Gerhard has worked on Stephen R Bissette's Tyrant #1, colored Oni Press' Free Speeches #1 and provided a panel to Locust Moon's Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream, a beautiful look at the classic comic from the perspective of various artists

It was a pleasure meeting Gerhard and his wife. He has recently provided illustrations for a children's book The Wish, written by Shelley Byers

Joe Giella, Inkpot Award 1996, studied at the Arts Students League in Manhattan and obtaining his first job on the humor feature "Captain Codfish". He would obtain some freelance work at Fawcett Comics to ink Captain Marvel. He moved to Timely/Marvel finishing backgrounds and making pencil corrections on Captain America Comics, Human Torch, Sub Mariner and others.

Friday, May 12, 2017

I had met Bill Wray at last year's East Coast Comic Con, but did not have the opportunity to obtain a sketch. So this year I made the effort to reach his table and request a sketch. Wray is a cartoonist noted for his work on the Ren & Stimpy show and Samuri Jack, as well as starting out with Disney, Hanna-Barbera and Filmation studios. He has contributed to Mad magazine and co-created Hellboy Jr, with Mike Mignola.

Wray sketches scream with the Ren & Stimpy style, and I thought I would obtain a sketch of either character doing something stoopid. Wray started looking through the selection of covers I had with me and became engrossed in the art of the stamps. He stopped at the Classic Comics stamp for Gasoline Alley and started to reminisce about his enjoyment of the newspaper comics especially Gasoline Alley.

When I returned to pick up the sketch I was very surprised to see Wray had drawn the main characters Walt Wallet and Skeezix, in the style of the original comics, as done by Frank King during the 1920's. We are the same age, so I know the nostalgic feeling he must have had when he did this. Gasoline Alley was one of the few comic strips that actually grew up with you as you read it..

Thank you Bill for a truly beautiful tribute..

Under the name William Wray, he paints the Urban Landscape series of fine paintings documenting the urban California landscape..

Friday, May 5, 2017

Hr. Havoc (Chris Alvarez), his Facebook and twitter pages states he is a New Jersey based artist, illustrator, father and husband. Comic needing, movie quoting, drawn, bad ass.
Love me some comics, toys and movies
Who doesn't love Groot

About Me

I have been a collector as far back as I can remember. Stamps, covers, autographs, baseball cards, comic books, coins, political buttons, sports memorabilia, space stamps and covers, and the list goes on.
This blog was set up to be able to share a small part of my collection with anyone who shares the interest.